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THe PenPal Schools BLOG

PenPal Schools projects are flexible enough to adapt around holidays and school breaks. Here are 3 ways to help your students have a great PenPal exchange, even during holidays and school breaks.

Encourage students to enroll in the project and become match eligible before you leave for break. Make sure students have completed their profiles and the Get Started lesson before break, too. That way, they’ll have great PenPals waiting for them when they return to school!

Communicate with PenPals so that they know what to expect. There’s nothing worse than when a PenPal stops responding! Have your students give their PenPals a heads up by letting them know ahead of time that they’ll be out of school. There are many different holidays and school schedules around the world, and your PenPals might be interested in learning more about your community traditions! Take it a step further by posting in the Global Teacher Forum to let teachers know, too.

Complete weekly lessons before your school break, or after you return. Students can always access the weekly lessons, so there’s no need to skip any! You can complete 2 lessons before or after your school break.

This week we celebrate a classroom in Sweden that recently participated in Facts, Opinions, and Fake News. Students in Lotta Kilic’s classes, 9a and 9b, learned about how to evaluate sources and how “fake news” impacts communities around the world.

Check out some of their responses below and read more about what the students in Ms. Kilic’s classes had to say about their experience learning with PenPals. Facts, Opinions, and Fake News starts again Monday, October 2. Sign up today!

Did you know that over 80% of middle schoolers can’t tell the difference between a news article and sponsored content on social media? This problem doesn’t just affect students in America. We’ve heard from teachers all around the world who want to help their students identify fake news, which is why we’ve created our newest project Facts, Opinions, and Fake News.

​If you’ve been to any of the major education technology conferences in the last few years then you’ve likely noticed the buzz around global education. While it’s promising to see the great work of organizations and educators leading the #globaled charge, the vast majority of classrooms across the US and around the world haven’t taken notice. Globalization for adults - in our workplaces, politics, and daily lives - has been developing rapidly for decades now. However most classrooms are not much more connected now than they were decades ago.

While there are many reasons why Global Education has been so slow to develop, most fall into one of three categories: Too much work for teachers, inadequate learning outcomes for students, and lack of support from administrators.

To celebrate Earth day and the end of the school year, we’re organizing the biggest PenPal exchange ever! From May 8th to 12th, students from around the world will join forces for the environment!​In our new 1 week project, Joining Forces for the Environment, students will think globally and act locally. Students will learn with PenPals around the world about topics like freshwater supply, deforestation and climate change. They’ll then identify an environmental issue affecting their own communities and work together to complete a project designed to make a positive impact.

Students around the world have been engaging with PenPals like never before. With our newest project,VR Field Trip to Pakistan, students have connected with PenPals in Pakistan and other regions to learn about a country that is often misunderstood. Through virtual reality, PenPals have experienced the sights and sounds of the bustling streets of Lahore, Pakistan.

For teachers who missed the first exchange we have great news. The project begins again - with even more Pakistani classes participating - next Monday! Students will need to enroll before Monday to be matched with PenPals. Have you signed your class up yet?

​We are all connected by our environment. We depend on natural resources for the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the energy we use. The great diversity and possibility of Earth is truly awe-inspiring! Ideally every student would have the opportunity to experience the similarities and differences of our planet’s ecosystems first hand: to visit the Great Barrier Reef or hike alongside rhino’s in their South African habitat, for example. This may not be possible for every student, but thanks to technology, students and their peers around the world students can now learn together about Earth and our shared challenge of protecting it.

Did you know that 62 million girls worldwide are not in school? In many places it is customary for girls to stay home while their brothers pursue an education. In some places girls are able to attend school but lack critical resources like textbooks and trained teachers. Even worse, young girls around the world sometimes face harassment and violence when they pursue an education.

We would like to celebrate the holiday by taking a look into some traditional clothing across the world! Each country has various traditional clothing, some of which are specific to certain regions. While many traditional clothes across the world are no longer worn on a daily basis (today it may be symbolic and worn during certain festivals or celebrations, for example), traditional clothing is highly representative of a country’s history, climate, customs and the diverse ethnic groups who inhabit them. ​

From the United States to India, and from France to Papua New Guinea, each culture has its own set of traditional clothing. Looking at traditional fashion from around the world is a great way to celebrate the unique characteristics of different cultures. Join us as we continue our journey around the world and explore 16 examples of traditional clothing from 16 countries where our PenPals live!We select only a few items per country, and attempt to highlight as much diversity as possible. If you love exploring cultures as much as we do, sign up for free and connect with a PenPal today!

After the first presidential primary debate, the election cycle is officially under way! Let’s take this opportunity to explore PenPal perspectives on American Jobs and the changing US economy, a topic that will receive plenty of attention this election cycle. In the coming weeks, we’ll share PenPal perspectives on immigration, marriage equality, and many other topics that are sure to make a splash leading up to Decision 2016!

Should I shake his hand? Should I bow? Should I kiss her on the cheeks? Each country has its own greeting customs, from bowing, to shaking hands, to kissing. These diverse customs can make even the simple act of saying hello” seem awkward and confusing. So we at PenPal Schools we decided to come up with a short guide on how to greet people around the world, country by country.

The future is here, and it is global! Thanks to technology, the world is multicultural, multilingual, and more connected than ever before. The way we interact with communities around the world impacts national security, environmental conservation, and economic development. Global education is the key to preparing young people to succeed in this interconnected world. So what is global education? What are the benefits? And why is it here to stay?

If one takes the highways straight from New York City to Austin, Texas, the journey takes approximately 26 hours this was the path that the PenPal Schools team set out upon when they left New York City. 26 hours is a long time and the long stretches of highway afforded the team plenty of opportunity to think about how far they had come and what they had learned along the way.

Neither learning languages with a PenPal nor communicating with him or her via technology are new concepts; however, PenPal Schools makes the process fun and easy. In this post we will consider two academic studies that support the benefits of a platform dedicated to PenPal exchanges.

The PenPal Schools team makes it to D.C. and the 1776 Challenge Cup. Joe practices his speech while Miguel and Mike try to park the school bus. Obama speaks about entrepreneurship at the Start the Spark Initiative.

PenPal exchanges offer students unparalleled opportunities to learn about world cultures. Sometimes this even means dispelling myths or eliminating misunderstandings! Check out this example of how an eighth grade social studies class at the American School in Guadalajara taught students at Terrill Middle School in New Jersey about Mexican culture via their PenPal exchange.